My Shoes
by HermioneRose
Summary: Kelsi didn't want to break the number one rule of friendship: crushing on your friend, who happens to be a guy. RyanxKelsi.


**Author's Note: Since I'm going to be gone tonight and part of Saturday, here's another **RyanxKelsi **for yuo to enjoy. Enjoy, and happy reading!**

**Chapter One: Face In The Hall**

Kelsi Nielsen and Ryan Evans were friends.

Not _best _friends, but you could say that they were close, meeting at the ripe age of four years old when they were in preschool.

They were kindergarten buddies in kindergarten, they broke the "boys can't be friends with girls, and girls can't be friends with boys" rule in second grade, and didn't like-like each other in sixth grde, when most kids their age got crushes on each other.

But, then in middle school, Kelsi started to see Ryan in a whole new light:

She didn't consider Ryan as a "friend", but more of a crush that she could dream about at night.

And the thought scared her because she told herself that she wouldn't fall for Ryan like most girls did, but she did.

Of course, Kelsi wouldn't let the crush in the way of their friendship, but she could sense that Ryan knew something was wrong with her.

As Kelsi stopped by her locker one morning at school, she looked out of the corner of her eye that Ryan de-attached himself from Sharpay and her gang of fashion divas, and walked over to her.

"Hey, Kelsi. What's up?" he asked, and Kelsi looked up from getting one of the books she needed for class.

Ryan was wearing a pink and white stripe-shirt, a pair of blue pants, and one of the ever famous hats perched on his blonde, spiky hair: a hot-pink newspaper cap.

If someone new saw Ryan dressed like this, they'd think he'd gone blind one night, and picked out the first thing his hand touched in the morning.

Kelsi (as well as thier other classmates since preschool, besides Gabriella Montez) was used to him dressing like his sister (Sharpay Evans, resident Drama Queen), or the opposite of her.

But, mosty dressing like her, which was usually for their performances on stage.

"N--nothing." Kelsi stammered.

She always stammered whenever Ryan was in her line of horizon.

Ryan's easy-going smile turned into a frown at her response.

"Kelsi, is there something wrong?" he asked, and Kelsi looked at rhe floor, which suddenly became interesting to her.

"Nothing's wrong. I'm just....uneasy for the math test today." she replied.

Which was true:

She studied with Gabriella and Taylor McKessie, who were both in her math class, and they did have a test today.

But, that didn't cause the butterflies inside of her.

"Oh. Well, I bet you will do well, considering you studied with Gabriella and Taylor." Ryan commented, and Kelsi nodded.

"Yeah."

There was an uneasy pause in the conversation, and Ryan looked at her again.

"But, I mean...there must be something more than the math test bugging you."

_Yes, there is. I have a crush on my friend, but I'm not telling you that! _Kelsi thought.

"Just the math test. You know I get nervous about tests."

"Kelsi, you get nervous if Sharpay is upset!" Ryan explained, and Kelsi flinched at his statement, but she just looked at him instead.

Sure, she got nervous about the smallest of things, but the biggest thing was getting nervous if she said something that might reveal her crush on Ryan.

"I do not." Kelsi exclaimed, and Ryan rose an eyebrow at her.

"Yes, you do. I've seen it millions of times." Ryan said, in almost joking manner, and Kelsi's cheeks burned.

When he go from serious to joking in just a few minutes?

"So? Your sister is a Mountain Lion, after all. Who wouldn't be afraid to set her off?" Kelsi asked, and Ryan nodded.

"You're right. Even I'm afraid to set her off sometimes." Ryan stated, and JKelsi was sort of relived that he didn't focus on the matter at hand anymore.

Her relief didn't last long, though, as Ryan turned serious again.

"Just tell me what's wrong, Kelsi--"

The homeroom bell rang that moment, and Kelsi did another sigh of relief.

"But, we better go to homeroom, Ryan."

Kelsi finished getting her books out of her locker, and Ryan nodded as he followed her to Ms. Darbus's classroom.

"Can you please tell me what's wrong, Kelsi?" he asked, almost pleadingly, and Kelsi sighed.

"I'm worried about a crush, okay?" she asked, and Ryan's frown turned into a grin.

"Great! Who's the lucky guy?" he asked, and Kelsi blushed again.

Panicking, she blurted out the first name that came to her mind.

"Jason Cross." she said, naming of the Wildcat basketball players, and for a split second, she thought she saw a wave of disappointment cross Ryan's face.

Well, what did he wanted her to say?

It was _him _that she was crushing on?

No thanks!

"Oh, okay....good for him, then. Come on, we better get to homeroom before Ms. Darbus gets mad that we're late."

She wished that a black hole would eat her up in the hallway.

Just the look on Ryan's face made her feel bad.

"Ryan, are you sure you are okay?" she asked, and Ryan turned to her.

"Yeah. I'm fine."

He turned around again, and Kelsi felt even badder about the whole thing.

She felt a familar feeling creeping inside of her:

Kelsi felt like a second grader who was friends with a guy, and felt like she broke a rule in childhood/

But, there was also another rule she couldn't break:

She couldn't like Ryan, her friend who happened to be a guy.


End file.
